In EXTRAORDINARY #0, available from Titan Comics on May 5, 2021, Charlotte Tills joins the rare group of people who survive a near-death experience to come back with powers that make them ExtraOrdinary.
The Details
- Written By: V.E. Schwab
- Art By: Enid Balám
- Colors By: Jordi Escuin Llorach
- Letters By: Rob Steen
- Cover Art By: Enid Balám (cover A)
- Cover Price: $1.00
- Release Date: May 5, 2021
Was It Good?
It’s good enough to capture your curiosity for the main series. Since this is a 9-page #0 issue, you’re only getting the introductory snippet, but Schwab packs in enough setup and action to give you a strong sense of what’s going on. The story has a creative Dead Zone-esque premise, and it wastes no time jumping right into the story.
The art is very good, specifically around the special effect that shows Tills’ power. Take a look for yourself in our EXTRAORDINARY #0 preview.
What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
We learn from the intro that ExtraOrdinary people, or EOs, are people who come back from near-death experiences with unusual powers, usually based on whatever was occupying their thoughts at the time of death.
Charlotte Tills is your average American teenager who’s a little too preoccupied with death. What happens when you die? Do we have souls? Will it hurt?
Her preoccupation with death takes a toll on her ability to relate to her peers. So much so that she begins seeing a therapist.
One day on the bus ride home from school, the school bus is hit and flipped by an out-of-control cargo truck. Most of the students are injured. Some don’t survive. Charlotte didn’t survive but only for a short while before the doctors revived her.
When Charlotte wakes up in the hospital, she sees “after-images” of everyone she speaks to on nearby reflective surfaces. The images always show the same person dying or dead. When her doctor tries to reassure her that the images are likely just hallucinations from brain trauma, Charlotte begins to freak out and runs to get some fresh air.
On the way down the hospital hall, Charlotte bumps into a security guard and sees his reflection in a puddle of spilled coffee showing him dying in the parking lot. She tries to shake off the visions as just imagined, until the security guard is wheeled into emergency a few minutes later, dying in the same way Charlotte saw in the reflected vision.
Unable to resist facing what she already begins to accept, Charlotte locks herself in a bathroom and looks at herself in the mirror to see what death is waiting for her.
How Does It End?
A man is wearing what looks like a prison uniform… but not quite. Charlotte doesn’t see what she expected. “Who The Hell Are YOU?”
Final Thoughts
EXTRAORDINARY #0, available from Titan Comics on May 5, 2021, is an excellent start to a fantasy/horror story with respectable echoes of Stephen King and The Twilight Zone. It’s worth the purchase, especially for the cover price.
Score: 8.5/10
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